Updates

After a few days at home, we leave on November 11 for South America.

We've used the home time to finish blog posts for the last six weeks of our travels.  We've posted blogs on South Africa, Dubai, Italy, our Mediterranean cruise and Spain.  Hope you enjoy them.

We did a little reflecting on our travels so far and came up with our top 10 favourites.  Here they are in no particular order.

• Turkey - the people, the history and the culture.
• Our safari adventures in Kenya and Tanzania.
• Visiting a Maasai village in Kenya.
• Cheetahs - petting baby cheetahs and sitting next to adults.
• Greece - the people and the beaches.
• British Grand Prix (Blake's pick).
• Watching penguins walk by us on a beach near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
• Being on the Mediterranean cruise with her mom (Vanessa's pick).
• Elephants - seeing them up close on safari and then walking, feeding, brushing and riding them in South Africa.
• Relaxing on the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

See you at Christmas time when we'll be at home next.

Vanessa and Blake

Spain

Our first stop in Spain was the island of Ibiza.  In the summer, Ibiza is a busy vacation spot with very hot weather and some of the biggest dance clubs in the world.  In late October when we arrived, it's much quieter. The variable weather keeps the tourists away and the dance clubs close at the end of September.

We didn't do much in Ibiza but we took advantage of the downtime to get caught up on sleep.  We did venture out a little bit and here's one photo of the town.

Our second stop in Spain was Barcelona.  It's a city where architects and designers are held in high regard and the result is a very beautiful city.

Antoni Gaudi is the most famous architect from the region and you see his work all over Barcelona.  His signature work is the Sagrada Familia or Church of the Holy Family.  We've seen lots of churches in our travels but the Sagrada Familia was easily the most unique.

One side of the basilica depicts Jesus' early years

The other side shows the end of his life

Very intricate carvings on both sides of the basilica

The interior

Above the main altar

Here are a few other sights from Barcelona.

We went to an excellent Flamenco dance show

Lots of pedestrian areas

Beautiful waterfront

Another of Gaudi's works

One last photo before we catch our plane

It's hard to believe but this wraps up the first leg of our world trip.  After Barcelona, we headed home for a few days to get visas for our trip to China in March 2012 and say hi to our families.

Vanessa and Blake

Rome, Italy

Rome, like Venice, was a place that we visited in 1995.  It was August and blazing hot and we ate at McDonald's most of the time.  Even though we saw almost all of Rome's major attractions in 1995, we wanted to come back and have a more enjoyable Rome experience.

The Vatican amazed us in 1995 and it wowed us again.

Saint Peter's Square with the basilica in the background

View inside Saint Peter's Basilica

View of the square from the top of the basilica - 551 steps to get there

The Vatican Museums are amazing too

The other site that wowed us for a second time was the Colosseum.  There was no signage or brochures in 1995 when we went.  This time around, we had an iPhone app to guide us (technology is wonderful!).

Us outside the Colosseum

Us inside the Colosseum

Event floor was wood covered with sand (partially restored to show what it looked like) 

Below the floor was a maze of rooms - gladiators and animals were held here until game time

Here are a few other sights from Rome.

Pantheon - was a temple to the gods and now a Catholic church

Us and one of the many excavation sites in the city

Street festival on Sundays

Rome looks as good at night as it does during the day.

Monument to the first king of Italy

Ruins lit up at night

Busy street with amazing blue sky

It was definitely worth a second trip to Rome.

Vanessa and Blake

Mediterranean Cruise - Part 2

Next up for us were three Greek islands - Mykonos, Rhodes and Santorini.

Mykonos has the white buildings and narrow streets that people associate with the Greek islands.

Delos is an island that's a short boat ride from Mykonos.  It was a major centre for the worship of Greek gods and the ruins on Delos are extensive.

Only part of the site

Terrace of the Lions - dedicated to the god Apollo

Flooring of a house's central courtyard is still intact

Like a puzzle trying to put all the pieces together

Like most Greek islands, Mykonos is home to lots of cats.  We took a bunch of photos that will show up in our "Cute Cats of the World" album.  Order your copy today - enjoy tons of cute cat photos and help us pay for our trip :-)

The cruise stop in Rhodes was our second visit to the island.  It was very rainy so we did a short walk through the old town and then Vanessa and her mom went shopping and Blake went for a nap.

The last Greek island we visited was Santorini and it was the best.  It's easily the most picturesque and is featured in most postcards and calendars of the Greek islands.

The island is what remains of a volcano that exploded about 3,600 years ago.  The volcano is still active today but it's limited to small releases of steam and sulphur.  Communities are built on the rim of the volcano, the middle crater has filled in with water to form a lagoon and the nose of the volcano sticks up in the middle of the lagoon.

Standing on the nose of the volcano looking at lagoon and crater rim

Our ship in the lagoon

Vanessa on the volcano

Blake on the volcano

Here are a few photos from Oia which is probably the most photographed town in the Greek islands.

A great lunch with an unbelievable view

After the Greek islands, we returned to Turkey for one day.  No carpet or pottery purchases this time, just really good sightseeing.  Our first stop was Ephesus which was a large city in the Greek and Roman times. There are tons of ruins to look at and only 15% of the city has been excavated.

Just part of the site

Another part

Temple for the Roman Emperor Hadrian

Theatre - seating for over 40,000

Under the theatre

Library of Celsus

Another stop was at the house where it is believed the Virgin Mary spent her final days.

House of the Virgin Mary

It's believed that wishes left on the wall will be granted

Our last two days on the cruise weren't memorable in a good way.  We had a day at sea (boring!) and then our stop in Naples, Italy was cancelled due to high winds and rough seas.  To make it even worse, there was an outbreak of Norovirus on the ship.  We didn't get sick but the virus did kill our desire to venture out of our room.

We got off the ship with very mixed feelings.  We were happy to be off the virus-infected boat but we had to say good-bye to Cecile and Shirley.  We had a ton of fun together.

Vanessa and Blake